Harold Wexler

Led Painting Firm

Harold Wexler, 75, a leader in the local painting and drywall industry, died Tuesday, March 6, after suffering a heart attack while on a cruise in New Zealand.

The Chicago native and Lincolnshire resident founded The Levy Co., which employs nearly 300 people in Northbrook. His many leadership positions placed him squarely among the industry's who's who. He served as a board member and past president of the Chicago Painting and Decorating Contractors Association and the Gypsum Drywall Contractors of Northern Illinois. He chaired the Tapers Negotiating Committee, the PDCA Industry Advancement Fund and the Health and Welfare Fund, which determined painters' benefits. He helped create an apprenticeship for tapers.

When Mr. Wexler started his company in 1949, it consisted mainly of his father-in-law doing painting jobs. Mr. Wexler occasionally helped out and found he was a much better salesman than painter, said daughter Gayle Siegel. He built the company into one of the biggest of its kind in Chicago before selling it in 1989, and continued working as chairman emeritus, said Fred Levy, general superintendent and his brother-in-law.

Richard Tamborski, a Painters District Council 14 business agent who served on a committee with him, called Mr. Wexler the voice of reason and compromise who could calm people down and focus them on the issues. He was among several who noted Mr. Wexler's sense of humor and positive outlook.

"He was a fixture in the firmaments of our industry," said PDCA Executive Director Richard Volkmer. "It won't seem right without Harold there."

The term "people person" could have been invented for Mr. Wexler, Levy said.

At his funeral, a competitor said no matter how mad he got at the company, he still loved Mr. Wexler, said his daughter.

Every morning, he ate at Max's Deli in Highland Park with a group called "the breakfast club," his daughter said. Despite all the activities, family came first. It was at his family's urging that Mr. Wexler downhill-skied for the first time in his late 60s. Although he never did it again, he tried it with a smile. Mr. Wexler and his wife, Adele, took 22 family members on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary for New Year's 2000. He went on an African safari and toured Israel to celebrate bat and bar mitzvahs with grandchildren. He flew to Germany to watch a grandson play hockey.

Mr. Wexler served as a mechanic in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

Along with his daughter and wife, Mr. Wexler is survived by son, Jerry; a daughter, Tina LaValliere; and 11 grandchildren. Services were held Sunday in Highland Park.